Wednesday, April 24, 2013

What I'm Reading: Desperate

Fair warning: this post has nothing to do with sewing. But I believe the best blogs are the honest ones, so I thought I should share the book I've truly been reading. Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe is a book I've been waiting to read for a few weeks. It was published just this year, and I was one of many on the list of people holding for the copy at the library. But it finally made its way into my hands, and I'm so glad I read it!


You can get the gist of the book with just the title/subtitle. If you are a young mother like me, you're probably familiar with the turmoil that accompanies such a role. What I appreciated about this book was its honesty. Fellow mothers will know that babies are more than cute clothes and monthly photos, yet somehow those superficial aspects receive the most attention when you're pregnant. I took four weeks of labor and delivery classes, but the baby care class was only 2 hours. Labor and delivery for me was 12 hours of my life, baby care is more like 12 months. See a discrepancy there?

The way society views motherhood is important, because it shapes a new mother's expectations. The wrong expectations lead to frustration, and day after day of frustration leads inevitably to despair. Desperate both sympathizes with the realities of motherhood, while also giving concrete solutions for managing it. The book is written from a Christian perspective, and in that respect it was immensely helpful for me.

There are two authors of the book. Sara Mae is a mother with young ones, and Sally Clarkson has already raised four children. Sally's older-and-wiser wisdom pointed to the long-reaching impact we can have as mothers. Too often, new mothers (myself included) tend to group up with one another, and we become short-sighted. It's all diapers and sippys and terrible twos. The minutia of the day-to-day becomes overwhelming, and we lose perspective. Sally's advice from "the other end" helped me to see that these young days are simply a season, one that will pass. The book touches a lot on the importance of having an older mother mentor in your life, who can help reorient you to see the big picture.

And just to include a bit of a sewing reference: I find that I'm also short-sighted when it comes to completing projects. I feel like I need to keep busy busy busy sewing, buying fabric, keeping up with the latest trends. In truth, if I'm lucky I'll have another 50 years to sew. There's no need to rush. It won't hurt to slow down and enjoy it.

This was one of those books where I wanted to underline every sentence. I didn't, because my copy was a library book, but I intend to order one someday soon and then I'll mark it up like crazy. If it sounds like this book might help you, I encourage you to order it right away. You won't be sorry! And if you don't believe me, then the 200 5-star reviews on Amazon might convince you.

Ahhhh...washi tape on Pick Your Plum today! Better hurry, it won't last long!

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